Blood Witch
by J S Arnold
Summary: To save Bonnie from almost certain death, Damon had to inject her with Vampire blood, enough that it changed her from an up-graded human to something else entirely. With old allies turned to enemies, Bonnie and Damon have to run for their lives...
1. Chapter 1

Blood Witch

1

"It was the only way I could save you." That sentence echoed in her head long after he had said it, though he had told her long before the pain had begun in her chest. The only thing she was certain of any more was that Witches were about Nature, and Vampires were unnatural. If she had known that he could give her something that hurt so badly, she would have listened to Elena and kept herself away from him. _Elena_, just the name made the suffering unbearable.

She tried to make her tears silent, but with each one there was a stab of pain that made her gasp. She was glad that she didn't have to run any more; she doubted she could walk another step. It was lucky for her that the car Damon had chosen had been so easy to steal, though she really hadn't expected anything different. If she had been with anyone else, she would have allowed herself to cry like a baby, since that was what they all saw her as, really, but she wouldn't with Damon – even if he expected it. She would be strong for him, she had decided even before he had taken her from the hospital, even if inside she was as weak as... Bonnie McCullough.

"Why do you cry, my little red-bird?" The handsome vampire to her right asked, his usually sarcastic tone a shade lighter, "Everything will be fine, you'll see." His voice took on a strange tone as he said these last words, as if he too was remembering all the things that they were leaving behind them—maybe for good. His eyes were on the road in front of them, but he was examining her with his other senses. He could read that she was conflicted about more than just this impromptu road trip, and he needed to know what that something else could be. "What's on your mind?" he asked in his smooth, refined voice that he used to persuade.

How could she answer his questions when she did not know fully herself? All she could think about was how much she had lost so quickly. Although Damon understood her better than anyone in Mystic Falls, she was pretty sure that he would not understand this. And besides, she was embarrassed to be feeling these things at all. She ought to be grateful that she and Damon had escaped this far without anyone, or anything, coming to stop them. She should be totally relaxed in the knowledge that Damon would be there for her whatever happened—so why the hell wasn't she?

"Elena's never going to forgive me for this," she finally said, confessing to a fear that she had been able to avoid confronting until now. She knew in her heart that if _Elena_ did not consider her a friend any more, it would be likely that Meredith did not either. To lose two friends at once... she didn't know how she would be able to go on. So, they had had some memorable arguments between each other, but they had always been her friends. The reason why she was so much more worried about Elena's reaction over Meredith's was that Meredith always kept a level head and did not allow anything to influence her... not even her own emotions. Bonnie could rely on Meredith, but would she in turn have faith that Bonnie would do the right thing?

"Elena has nothing to do with this—don't make her part of this, Bonnie. This is just about you and me."

She had to admit, if only to herself, that his words sent a thrill through her. Could it really be so simple? She wondered if something would happen to change it, as something always did, or if this could last. This felt too good to last, too perfect to be true. She told him all of this with a catch in her voice, and he told her that she was too good, too perfect to be true, and yet she was real. Every moment that past felt as though it would be the last, so she savoured every second, and jumped when his cell began ringing.

Damon didn't flinch in the slightest, just brought the phone up to his ear and said into it, "Hello Brother, sorry we didn't invite you and your girlfriend on this adventure, but it was kind of short notice—" A voice on the other end of the line broke in with a loud growling sound. "No, of course I haven't done anything to her, she's fine, aren't you sweetheart?" He passed the phone to her but continued to hear both sides of the conversation clearly.

"Stefan—Stefan—Stefan, calm down," she was alarmed by the panic in his voice, but she still had enough intuition to know that the worry wasn't for her. "Speak to me normally!" There was a pause as she listened to what he was so eager to tell her. "What do you mean, Elena's coming for Damon?" Despite the petty part of her that was still confused by this turn of events, her intuition still worked fine and what it was telling her was that if and when Elena caught up with them, she needed to protect Damon.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Blood Witch

2

"_Elena's_ coming?" Damon asked, speaking as if an _Elena_ were some mythical creature he had thought only existed in dreams, or perhaps nightmares, certainly not in real life. "Why the hell would _Elena_ be coming? What does she want _now_?" The frustration was clear in his voice, but the hand he ran through his hair was just as telling. Whatever he was feeling, it wasn't excitement at the thought of seeing _her_ again. If that whore was coming here to do _anything_ to his beloved Bonnie... but he couldn't even imagine anything when his mind flinched away from any possible scenario. No matter what happened, he would do all he could to keep her out of harm – his little hybrid princess.

"That's what Stefan said..." she confirmed, but she was wondering even as she said this if she could trust _anything_ that Stefan said in relation to Elena. He was her boyfriend, _fiancé_, whatever he called himself, and he would be thinking of her welfare and nothing else. Would he go so far as to murder Bonnie, though? She wouldn't, couldn't, risk the chance that he would turn against her. How much of a friend was he to her anyway? She had never really understood him, and she doubted that he had ever really taken that much interest in her either.

"Do you really think that we can trust him not to be _Stefan_?" Damon made air quotation marks around Stefan, as if being _Stefan _was some kind of mental disorder. He could just imagine it now; His little brother would come charging in, at first intending to do the right thing, until Elena crooked a finger and he would be helpless. Stefan was so predictable he rarely did anything unexpected. "You don't think that Stefan would lie to save the ass of his girlfriend?" Usually he would not speak like this about Elena, but things were different now. The game had changed, and so had the rules.

"You're right." She sighed and felt another bit of the strong façade come away and leaving her somewhat weaker. She felt more and more like bursting into tears; It was unfair that she was made to choose between her friends and her love. She loved Damon more than anything else in the world, but what world would she be in without any friends? Could she survive in such a place? Now she felt tears building in her eyes and felt their sting; she looked away from him so that he would not see that she was crying. She needed him to have faith in her, she knew that she could never be strong enough without his faith to make her so, but time was running out. "Damon?" she asked tentatively.

He seemed to understand what she was asking of him without her having to say a word, such was the connection between them as they gazed into each other's eyes. He took her into his arms, easily lifting her up and off the floor, and felt every inch of her come as close as possible to every inch of him as she pressed herself hard against him. He kissed her softly at first, savouring the taste of her lips, his hands on the small of her back, but within moments of their coupling his mounting passion for her became undeniable. He deepened the kiss, capturing her tongue with his, allowing his hands to roam freely over her body.

At once, she pulled back away from him. Something in his taste reminded her of something she should be feeling. Shouldn't she have been craving blood from the very moment that his venom was introduced into her system? Shouldn't she be rabid, hungry for blood right now?

"What is it, Bonnie? Is she here already?" he looked around him with a strange sort of alarm. It wasn't fear for himself, or her, that she saw. It was more like disappointment and she wondered what exactly was going through his mind right now. Surly he could not want her so much that he felt simply _annoyed_ that someone was coming to kill him? She demanded that her lips not curl in amusement – now was not the time for laughter – although it was difficult to maintain a straight face with him looking so put out.

"Why do you think she's so obsessed with you?" she asked suddenly. She had known Elena for a long, long time and she had never been this insane before over anyone. Was it just that she liked having boy's fight of her – that she was missing the antagonism between the brothers? Or was it simply that she was jealous that Damon no longer preferred her over anyone else. She thought that it could be either of these things, but if she were to bet on one it would be the last. Elena was so used to being the only one to be desired that it must be infuriating for her to see Bonnie getting all Damon's attention.

"Speaking of obsessions..." Damon breathed into her ear moments before she finally heard it to. She might have vampiric hearing, but it had taken her a few seconds longer to pick up on the sound of footsteps coming closer. The hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention as she listened to the sound growing louder.

"Damon..." she whispered, almost moaning, into the hollow of his neck, only too aware of the tremor in her voice as she said his name, though she was scared more about whatever scornful thing Elena had to say to her than the girl herself. But instead of answering her with soothing words, as she had expected, his used the power of his lips on her's to reassure her.

_Don't worry_, was what he said with his mouth. _I love you_.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Blood Witch**

**3**

Neither of them had time to contemplate the mystery sound for long. Out of the shadows came a shape, a lovely silouette, and the whole forest seemed to become silent all at once. The wind had died until not even the leaves, the grass, the little creatures made a sound that any of them could hear. She shouldn't have had to breathe now that she was un-dead, Bonnie knew this and yet she inhaled and exhaled quickly, and the sound cut through the silence like a knife through butter. Damon was the most silent thing around, and he squeezed his arms around her the tiniest bit to confirm that he was still there – as if to add his strength to her's.

"Damon..." the thing still masked by that curtain of the darkest shadow said cooly, "What have you done, now?" There was an edge of reproach in her voice, as if he was a naughty little boy she was reluctant to scold, but also a joyful smile. Who was it who dared be happy after all the suffering he had gone through to get to this point? "You really shouldn't have done that—given the witch some of your blood... Do you have _any _idea what you have started by infecting her?" At first, it sounded like it could be Elena speaking, but after those words he knew differently. There was only one person, one _thing_, that could be so heartless as to question the saving of his beloved.

"Katherine," he growled venomously, "What are you doing here?" He could sense the power she was trying to use on him, but his mind was so focused on Bonnie that he was able to fight the compulsion to go to her with ease. He knew that this must have been embarrassing for the centuries-old Katherine, and he smiled at the small victory. He did not want to answer her, or even contemplate the question, for he knew that if he did he would start to doubt every decision he made. It was not his style to ever doubt himself – he _knew_ he had done the right thing by taking Bonnie as he had. If he had, in fact, infected Bonnie with the vampiric disease at least now the future before them was fathomless—if Katherine did not kill them right there and then.

"Don't you want to know what happened in the parking-lot?" she asked playfully, prancing around the small space as if she were a pony and it was spring-time. She came closer then danced away before Damon could reach a hand out to touch her. It was unclear what she thought would come of this flirtation, but it probably was not what she got.

Before the idea had even fully formed it her mind, Bonnie had caught Katherine as she came close and had her knelt on the floor with her arms held at her back. She'd only meant to ask her if she would be serious, but instead she had tackled the vampire and brought her to her knees. Bonnie had never been a strong person, either in body nor mind, and after this show of her new abilities she found that she was frozen. No matter how much Katherine struggled to be free, the grip on her was as relentless as a storm out at sea.

"Why don't you tell us..." Damon replied a little dazedly, one perfectly shaped eyebrow raised. Where had his sweet, soft, innocent Bonnie gone? Not that he was complaining – he always preferred playing with fire. He smiled his dazzling smile, turned his eyes downwards, and locked eyes with his maker. She looked—no, wait—she was pitiful pinned to the floor as she was. While he too was a little disturbed by Bonnie's show of strength, he could get used to it quickly.

"Klaus." She said this like it needed no explaining, as if _Klaus _meant everything and anything. Damon glared and she reconsidered. "Witch."

Damon nudged her hard with the toe of his boot. "Use sentences, Katherine."

She screwed up her face in disgust for having to elaborate further. "Do you even realise what you have done, Damon? Witches aren't _meant_ to be vampires. No self-respecting witch would ever _choose_ to become like us, thus making hybrids like this one," she tilted her head in Bonnie's direction to indicate that she was talking about her, as if that were not already obvious, "extremely rare. If you were to sell her, for example, you could be eternally..."

Damon punched her with enough force that it threw her backwards twenty or thirty metres. Katherine made an unrecognisable sound, kind of like a strangled cat. She came at him with blinding speed, her glittering blue eyes turning to black, and scratched a line from just below his left eye to the corner of his mouth like a cat, before darting away into the trees before Damon could land another blow.

"We've got to leave FellsChurch, love," he said, as if nothing had happened, "Do you understand?" It wouldn't have made a difference if she had told him no, if he had given her the chance to answer, because he understood the danger even if she did not. Why did Klaus want her? There were too many reasons to count but if he could bet on just one it would so he could make her his tool against his enemies – like him and the others.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Bonnie whimpered quietly, her face turning green under the canopy of leaves overhead.

"I know, I feel it too." Damon told her, thinking that no words could be sufficiant to describe the unease and dread he was drowning in. No matter what happened, he would not allow his love to be broken as she had been before, not that that was an option for her now anyway.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Blood Witch

4

He supposed that he could have simply carried her in his arms and ran, or have her run beside him, but instead he had stolen a car. A slick black Lexus LS600h, a beautiful machine he had wanted ever since he glanced it out of the corner of his eye. Bonnie suited leather seats, he thought as he settled her in the front passenger seat, reaching across her to pull the seatbelt across her chest. He looked over his shoulder and saw no one following them, although the hairs on the back of his neck were raised. There was a strange feeling building within him that he couldn't remember feeling before – _fear that something he loved would be destroyed._

Her door closed with a soft sound and Bonnie tried to feel good about being in strapped safely in the seat. She'd been out of Mystic Falls before, of course, but this time felt like the first. She had butterflies in her stomach and a tightness in her chest, but also an excitement that almost eclipsed these feelings. She was going to be _alone_ with Damon, truly and utterly alone, for perhaps the first time, and she wondered if he was thinking the same thing as he got into the driver's seat beside her. She opened her mouth to ask him, but before she could the car roared to life without any keys in the ignition.

Damon chuckled at her suprised expression. The little mental power he had exerted was nothing compared to what he was capable of, but she seemed amazed. If he had known she was so easy to please he still wouldn't have done this sooner; he always loved a challenge, and he enjoyed having to work to make her happy, and he found it hard to believe that he had ever thought Elena, Katherine, was worth the time he spent on them. He tapped his head and smiled when she did, for the moment his vampiric state seeming not to be a hinderance but instead something to be valued and used to make _her_ happy.

"How on earth did you do that?" she almost whispered, breathing the words so softly that her voice was barely louder than the sound of mice as they scurried in shadows.

"Magic, of course." he replied with a wicked glint in his eyes when he glanced sideways to her. Her face brightened and the smile she suddenly wore sent another bit of the darkness inside him came away. He could become used to this, he thought with a twinge—because there was a real possibilty that neither of them would survive long after Klaus found them and attacked. If he had needed any evidence of the lengths the original would go to in order to use Bonnie for his own purpourses, he needed no more. If he had needed the passion to hunt down Klaus, to try and destroy him, it had just been ignited. His need to protect her was a burning sensation in his chest, although he thought that words alone could never fully describe it. He had never felt anything so powerful before in his long, long existance.

"Magic..." she seemed to retreat inside herself after this one word, and it was as if sucked in to a memory. In reality, she was trapped in a future she could never have, watching herself and Elena and Meredith as if watching a film. She was seperate from them now and this realisation tore at her from with her skull. She clutched her head so tightly that it seemed it would crack like an egg any minute. For a moment she hoped that it would, thaty this all would end, but then she would remember Damon sitting beside her in the driver's seat and she would pull herself back with an almost physical tug. She _had_ to stop thinking like this; Things could be a lot worse, she scolded herself, you could be dead, or worse, Damon could be. _No_, she thought sitting straight in the seat, _I will not be Baby Bonnie anymore_. She would be strong for Damon because he loved her, and believed that she was strong. She would not prove him wrong by being weak, she would be strong because he believed she was. Her mind made up, she relaxed in the chair and closed her eyes.

Bonnie opened her eyes and swept a look around her in surprise. She was no longer in the passenger seat of an expensive car, she was standing at the centre of a ring of people chanting some strange poem or song. The words were said to a beat and felt oddly familiar to her. They all had their eyes closed and Bonnie felt unsure if they were aware of her intusion or not. They all seemed to be undisturbed by her sudden appearance at the centre of the circle, almost as if they were _expecting_ her to be there. She watched as they each opened their eyes and was shaken by the opaque colour of their eyes. Their irises seemed to be black rather than a really dark brown, so much so that their pupils shone lighter in contrast. It was more than a little disturbing but she could not seem to look away. Even as one of the people stood forwards from the circle she could turn her face away.

"Where am I?" she asked at last, the words coming out in a jumble so that she was almost speaking jibberish. She couldn't have understood herself, but the woman who stood apart from the rest seemed to understand her anyway. She came forwards even closer to her until she stood a bare metre before her. She did not speak and remained eerily silent, just staring. "Who are you?" Bonnie asked once it was clear that she wasn't going to get an answer to her first question. She'd never had so many people staring at her before, but she imagined this was how it felt to be stared at by everyone in the cafeteria back at school. Somehow, she doubted that this place was anywhere near Mystic Falls.

"You have been bitten," the woman said in a gentle, almost heavanly voice, putting a hand on her shoulder as if to give comfort. "You have been tainted by those of the darkness." She was saying all of this as if Bonnie was meant to know what it meant, though she did not. She opened her mouth to say as much but the woman placed a cool finger across her lips. "It would be best if you remained quiet during the proceedings."

"Lansia," one of the other women warned in a cracked voice. Bonnie realised that not all of the women here were as young and full of vitality as the woman Lansia. An old woman emerged from the circle too and came to Bonnie. "You're a Blood-Witch," she accused, gesturing vaguely towards Bonnie's mouth and the fangs that were hidden behind her lips, "This cannot be."

Damon pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned in his seat to face his lovely Bonnie. She had been napping for over an hour, but it was only when he could not wake her that he bagan to worry. She was pale, he knew she was always pale and it did not necessarily mean anything sinister, but her eyes were moving wildly beneath the lids in a way that made him instantly weary. Could she just be having a dream, or could she be having a vision of the future? With the way her eye-balls moved he wanted to wake her, but his instinct told him that he would not be able to. If she was having a vision, he knew it was potentially deadly to try and force her from it.

There was a knock on the drivers-side window and Damon caught the reflected light from a badge. He adjusted his face, "Good afternoon officer," his smile was dazzling, "What can I do for you?" He hoped that the man wouldn't be unfortunate enough to have notice how Bonnie was slumped in her seat. The officer motioned towards his passenger with his shinning black laquered bat, "Oh, her?" Damon laughed, sounding almost natural, "We partied a bit too hard last night—she's just sleeping the drinks off."

"Step out of the car, sir," the cop said, a grim smile on his lips. Once Damon was out of the car he asked in a knowing voice, "I'm just going to do a blood test, you might be driving under the..." But he dud not get to finish his sentence before a punch to the side of his head knocked him out cold. There was _no way_ Damon was going to allow this policeman to take even a little bit of his or Bonnie's blood, since he would find it very unusual indeed. He would not find alchol, Damon was pretty sure.

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**Blood Witch**

**5**

Well, he wasn't going to pass up a meal that was practically _given _to him. Damon jumped out of the car, not bothering to close the driverside door, and crouched down beside the body of the late... he reached down and turned the badge to face him... Officer Daniels. Judging by the various symbals decorating his uniform, mr Daniels had been pretty close to the top of his profession, and this only convinced him more that being pulled over was no coincidence. How many points for a police officer, he wondered with a slight smile, thinking that it was bound to be more than for a regular citizen. He would have to find out as soon as he was back home.

Bonnie's eyes opened wide at once, the vision all but forgotten in the haze of her lust. The scent of blood made Bonnie's nose feel like it was on fire, as if every part were covered in flames. Her nostrils flared and she grimaced at the searing pain. What was that smell? It was... it was... there were no words she could think of to descibe it. It was sweet, sugary, like her favourite kind of sweet, with a slighty meaty quality that seemed like the perfect blend. She had never smelt anything like it before, and yet she knew that she _wanted_ it like she had never wanted anything before. She followed it with her nose until her head was fully outside the window and she was staring down at the almost bloodless corpse.

Damon jerked slightly in suprise when he saw that she was awake, but the smile came instantly to his lips. She was alright, she was alright. Thank god. He wiped his mouth before speaking, deciding they would have plenty of time to speak of what had happened in the car, when they were safe.

"C'mon, we have to go before some unlucky—" but he did not have the chance to finish the sentence before the sight of Bonnie with her head stuck out the window stole the words. He had never seen his sweet little red-bird in such a primal state before, with her pupils huge and dilated and full of that thing he knew so well: Vampiric blood lust. It was easy to forget how strong the need for blood was at the begginning, especially after centuries apon centuries of being able to control and think past it, but he recognised what the fever in her eyes was as soon as he saw it. It was selfish of him to deny her the meal, but he knew that he had to be strong enough to _control_ her if and when she lost control of the beast.

"It hurts, Damon! I need... I need..." she moaned, but she did not know what it was she _needed_ exactly. It was something that was similar to water—but not. Something thicker. Something even more basic. Something red. Something that was spilling on the tarmac, being _wasted_. "Please... Damon, please..." She was not aware of what she was asking for, but she knew that she wanted it more than she had ever wanted anything in her entire life, needed it more than her next breath. But Damon seemed to know what she needed so desperately, and she watched him with burning eyes as he ripped out the dead man's throat and offered her the bleeding neck as if offering it to the gods.

She took what he offered her desperately, and Damon sat back and watched her make a mess of the already gory corpse. Later, he would teach her to be neater at meal-times, but right at this moment. Who was there to stumble into this scene anyway? Around him there was nothing, no buildings, no people, no anything. If the man's corpse was ever found, which he doubted it ever would, the wounds would suggest a wolf or a bear had done the deed. No one would ever suspect that a sweet-looking girl like Bonnie could ever tear intp a person's throat like a wild beast, which made the gnawing guilt over what he had done impossible to ignore. Maybe she would have gotten better on her own in the hospital, maybe the doctors could really preform miracles, but the chances were that her brain would have been damaged – that she wouldn't be the same Bonnie had loved.

"Am I a monster now?" Bonnie asked in a small voice once ten minutes or so had passed since Damon had begun to drive away from the scene.

"No more of a monster than I am..." then he reconsidered, "I mean, no you're not Bonnie. Someone like you could never be a monster." He meant this as a reassurance, but he felt her bristle at his side. What was the right thing to say? He wonderd in the sudden silence. He knew she would be feeling delicate right now, but he was not _Stefan_ and he did not know what to say to make her stronger. He had never been talented in that way and the comfort he had to give was with his lips.

Bonnie watched in confusion as Damon stopped the car suddenly and put it into park at the side of the road, only metres away from where they had started. Didn't he realise that the crime-scene was still in sight behind them, didn't he know how sick she was feeling just by being near the body? "What are you doing?" she asked.

There were no words, only soft kisses at her chin and neck, and she could not speak. His movements were noticibly slower to her now, but he still moved too fast for her to know what he was about to do until he was doing it. Not that she would have stopped him doing _this_ even if she had a choice, even if she had wanted to. His kisses soon became more passionate once he was certain she would no reject this close contact, and she felt as though her tongue was making love with his. It felt so good when he put the chair back in a reclining position and moved across to cover her. He moaned and nuzzled her neck as if he were going to bite her there.

It was as she felt something strong building up inside her that she saw a vision that made her scream.

**TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**Blood Witch**

**6**

The vision was frightening in it's vividness and it shocked her into numbness. It was a few moments before she could speak, and by then the hysteria was peaking inside of her, sending her heart into a painful beat against her ribs. "He's here..." Bonnie breathed finally, after plenty of shaking from Damon, trying not to have a heart-attack. What she wanted to tell him, to shout at him, was that in her vision the devil himself had come and claimed Damon – and not in the same way that it wanted her. Even knowing that it wasn't a reality, _yet_, she could not stand to see him smiling at her again like he had already won. She flinched at even the thought of _his_ name, how could she speak it?

"Who, Bonnie? Who's here?" Damon's preservation instincts needed to hear the name before they came to life inside him. He needed her to tell him that they were in danger before his body could prepare for it, though the look in her eyes should have been enough for his body to react like he knew it could. There was only one name he dreaded coming from her lips, and he waited to hear it with barely restrained impatience.

"Klaus, oh god... oh no! Klaus is coming for me!" She was screaming now, although she knew that just because she said it louder it would not make the problem go away. In her vision there had been blood, too much of it to come from just one person, and Klaus standing at the centre of the chaos looking undisturbed by any of it. She knew that there must have been more, but the thought of revisiting it was unbareable. She could not see his smiling mouth another time and not break down in hysterics. Damon hugged her close.

"I won't let him have you," he promised into her hair, "you are _mine_."

"I am yours," she replied obidiently, knowing that what she said was true – he owned her heart, she was his in a way that transcended any other kind of relationship she'd had with anyone else. Although her heart knew that it would beat for no other, she knew that if and when Klaus caught up with them he would use power to make her brain think otherwise. If there was a spell to protect her from his voodoo she would cast it over Damon and herself right this second, but there hadn't been anything strong enough in her grandmother's book of spells that would be strong enough to block powers from an original.

Damon took her hand and squeezed it tenderly. "Believe that I can protect you, please Bonnie. I need you to believe that you are safe with me, I need you to say it." There was so much emotion in his voice that it got caught in his throat and thickened his voice to a low rumble. He brought her fingers up to his lips and kissed them almost as tenderly as he did her mouth. He had never felt so vulnerable as he did as he waited for her answer, because he need her conviction to strengthen his like he had never needed anything from her before.

There was a soft knock on the passenger-side window and they both turned in their seats... to see nothing. There was nothing but grass and a vague impression of a building in the distance – a barn probably, though the light outside was so bright that neither of them could look very long. Bonnie did not know for certain if the light was so unbarable to a regular, human person but it definately was now with vampire eyes. She turned her face away from the window and saw a face smiling at her from Damon's window instead. Klaus winked and smiled almost kindly.

Damon, oblivious to the presence behind him on the other side of the glass, could not have possibly dodged the hand that came through the glass to clench a fist around his throat.

"Stop!" was all Bonnie could think to scream next, all the blood rushing to her head making her disorientated and confused. Her brain hadn't caught up yet, it felt like, though her heart let the rest of her know exactly what was happening. The adrenaline rush that washed through her in a tidal-wave of sensation made her quake not with fear but the need to run. Her fingers trembled as they tried to work that mechanism to open the car door.

Pressing the button the realease the seatbelt, Bonnie ripped the door clean off of the car with her new vampire strength and propelled herself out of it as if she sat on a spring. She did not stop to marvell at how she flew through the air or how quickly she ran once she hit the ground. There was only one thing she could focus on, and that was getting to the barn she'd thought she had seen from the car. The animal growl of fustration from behind her only made her run faster.

"Come back here!" Klaus shouted from where he had beaten Damon unconcious beside the still rumbling car. He did not even have to contemplate what he should do next.

Bonnie stopped running and leant a hand against the wooden frame of the barn, feeling flecks of paint flaking away beneath her small hand. She took a couple of moments to gather her courage and turned slowly around. There nothing to be seen but swaying plants and bright blue sky.

**TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

**Blood Witch**

**7**

Her thoughts went instantly to Damon and the state he must be in right at this second. There was no way that she could think of anything, not even her own fate if she went back, when she knew that it was possible Damon was in a critical condition and he needed blood. She didn't know if she had enough blood inside her to heal him completely, but she knew that it did not matter. Maybe fate had brought vampirism upon her for a reason, and maybe the reason was so that she could save Damon – the one being on earth that she felt a spiritual tie to, and the only one in the world she desired to be with for the forever that now stretched before her.

There was a disturbance from the other side of the barn and she froze. Footsteps on the ground behind her, the sound of the wind, the sound of a smile. She didn't know how she knew it was the sound of a smile, what words could describe the sound of an expression changing, but somehow her vampire senses told her so. Soft foot-falls, which would have been inaudible to her if she were human, caught her attention and held it. She knew she didn't have to breathe any more, but she found the habit hard to break. She tried to focus _only_ on the sound of her pursuers foot-steps on the fallen corn stems, but the wind that blew made the task more difficult. It was until the footsteps stopped close behind her that she was aware of them at all. She did not want to turn around.

Cool fingers on her spine, their first contact and the moment she knew for certain that she never had any hope of out-running Klaus. As his strong arms snaked around her, her insides turned to ice and her skin grew super-sensitive. He could make her shiver just by moving his finger-tips to spots on her neck and face. "I need you Bonnie," he told her in a whisper against the lobe of her ear, "but I will try and make this as painless as possible..." he caught her by the mouth and worked his lips in a rhythm against her's.

He was a good kisser, there was no doubt about that, but even with so much skill he could never make her feel as good as when she was kissed by Damon. Just thinking his name brought the memory back and the phantom feel of his lips replaced the physical presence of Klaus's. With her eyes closed, she could pretend that it was Damon's hands she felt leisurely stroking her back, his tongue mingling with her's. He moaned, "We could be perfect for each other, Bonnie," his breath was so hot against her skin when he spoke that it felt like being caressed by flames.

She pulled back and stared at what she had convinced herself was Damon. Klaus seemed disappointed, the fire of passion freezing once again in his eyes, but resigned. How had he done that? She wondered silently. How had he convinced her he was Damon when he was so obviously not? With her eyes shut, she could have sworn she was in Damon's arms, that she felt _Damon's_ tongue mingling with her's, his arms wrapped around her – but how could she have been so wrong? How could she have _ever_ thought Klaus was _him_? She had thought before that she could never, ever, make that mistake. And yet she had.

"No," she said, catching him off-guard enough that he stumbled back when she pushed at his chest, "No. You are _not _Damon. You will never convince me you are."

He hadn't expected this to be her response, and he took a moment to register what had happened. Had she _really_ been imagining it was someone else kissing her just then? He didn't want to believe that her moans had not been for the same reasons as his, but he had a sneaking suspicion that this was the truth. Not that it mattered; what he had planned would probably end up killing her anyway, and there was no better way of murdering someone than with a bitter heart. He would be damned if he'd allow himself to be crippled by unrequited love again. "You only die once, best to make the most of it." He sneered right in her face before slapping her so hard around the face that she blacked out from the pain of a broken neck.

He found that her head dangled a bit as he ran with her in his arms to the place where his family waited.

Damon felt the burning against his skin and found each breath he took to be an effort. His ring finger was bare, he noticed the moment he wiggled his fingers experimentally. _Damn_. This was the only word he was capable of thinking as the skin of his face began to blister. The _Figlio di Troia_took his sun-ring and... Bonnie? Where was she? _Damn_.

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**Blood Witch**

**8**

Damon chose the first place of shadow to hide in, which was the barn that Bonnie had been standing in front of when he had last seen her. He dropped to the ground the moment that he was safe and clutched the raw skin of his face with his hands. His fingers and palm were burnt too, but not nearly as severely as his face. He wondered fleetingly whether he would put his abilities to heal under so much stress for anyone else and knew the answer immeadately. No one was worth this kind of agony, no one but her. She was worth dying for, his little Red Bird, and he would gladly pay that price for the certainty that she would be safe from all the evil in the world. Stefan might think that he knew the meaning of true passion, but he doubted that his little brother had any idea.

He needed blood, but he knew for a fact that the nearest person around was atleast a mile to the east. Nothing but the blood of a human would surffice for the amount of damage he had incurred, but he was desperate and needed _something_, anything, to keep himself from dying right here on this disgusting floor. Some kind of cattle had been housed here once, that much he could tell by the pungent stink of urine and other things he didn't wish to think about, but not for a long time. Maybe the human who owned this land had fogotten the barely-more-than-a-shed even existed, both a blessing and a curse. While he appreciated the solitude it offeered, there was likely no human's close enough to snack on. There was no way that he could venture out into the day-light again without his ring to protect him from meeting a hot and painful end, but if he waited the hours until nightfall, he was certaub that any trail Klaus left behind would have been erased by the gusting wind. What was a well-meaning vampire to do?

Closing his eyes in concentration, Damon used a bit of what precious little power he had at his disposal to send out a probe into the fields around him. He had once vowed never to be reduced to drinking the blood of _animals_, but even _Elena_ would have to agree that it was the only option left to him, especially if there was to be any hope in catching up with Bonnie. That last thought made him feel absolutely vindicated, and the strength of his will alone lessened the pain of his charred flesh.

"Finally... I thought something awful might have happened..." Rebekah drawled, the moment that Klaus bounded into the clearing where they all waited. She was tierd of just standing around, doing nothing, bored. Nicklaus had made it _very _clear that they were to wait for him, but there were many other, better, things she could be doing with her time. She had been invited to a girl named Caroline's birthday party tonight, a party she'd promised to be at, but it seemed that once again her damn family was going to ruin any chance of her having fun. She wasn't even allowed to feed off of the witch, although she was hardly likely to object in her current condition.

"Put her at the centre," Esther told Klaus, wasting no time at all in directing him to do what she saw as the correct thing. She had a thick volume propped open in front of her and was scanning it quickly with her eyes even as she spoke. She had studied the spell before this moment, of course, but the language was foreign even to her eyes and she practiced saying the words in her mind. If this spell had been attempted before, she had no knowlege of it. She could only hope that the results would be just as described in the elegant script. The paper was thick and ancient beneath her finger-tips as she ran them over the verse. The circle formed around Bonnie consisted of herself, Mikael, Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah, but the chanting sounded like one voice. They wasted no time in conducting the ceromony to awaken the power of the Blood Witch.

Damon pounced, catching the deer by the neck and bringing it to the leafy floor of the forest. It's blood was sharp, like raw lemons, but he forced his jaw to clamp down until the animal stopped moving entirely. He raised his gory mouth and saw that the shadows were starting to combine into one with the setting of the sun. If he knew anything about Klaus, it was that he enjoyed putting on a show, and would probably want to see Damon in the audience—meaning that he would not begin the sadistic ceremony until Damon arrived. That gave a little time to come up with a plan. Although he was willing to do anything to make sure Bonnie came out of this alive, he would not put his own life down as compensation. If all went to plan, they would both get out of this alive.

Klaus and Kol both smiled as they bound Bonnie's wristing and ankles and brought her to the thick wooden pole they had errected in the centre. Her stuggling didn't seem to trouble them at all, as if she were a kitten with it's claws removed. She was no threat to them, only a means to an end. Esther spoke in a strident tone as she dropped various herbs at regular intervals at the edge of the circle. She was confident that nothing could stop this from happening now, and once the Blood Witch was released, her children would have the power to smite all their enemied.

"Is there any way you can stop her moving so much?" Kol asked, the glance he gave Bonnie filled with distaste. It was clear the contempt Kol showed for mear mortals, but she did not find this too disheartening since she had known that these particular vampires saw all human's as beneath them. Unlike all the other vampires in the world, this group had never been human and thus felt no need to restrain their snide comments.

"Why don't you ask her? I'm sure she'll stop wriggling if you ask her nicely." There was a smile in his voice that made her think he had meant something other than what his words implied. Kol bent one of her fingers back until the bone broke with a snap, "We would appreciate it if you stopped moving. Thank you for being so considerate – happy?"

**TBC**


	9. Chapter 9

**Blood Witch**

**9**

"What are you going to do to me?" Bonnie asked, her voice just barely louder than a whisepr until the sob forced itself from her throat. She had thought, at first, that Damon would swoop down on them all and rescue her, but as the minutes past she became less and less certain. Did he really care about whether she lived or died? She had thought before than maybe he did, and she still held onto some of that belief, but the darker thoughts were building at the back of her mind, overwhelming the light. She knew that it was Klaus forcing this doubt to take control, and so she faught against it with every breath, though each seemed harder than the last.

Rebekah looked as if she were going to say something, but with a single finger Esther silenced her and spoke herself. She stood at before Bonnie, where she was bound to the pole with chains made of iron, and threw at her something that smelt strongly of spices but she was sure was not.

"A blood witch is rare," She herself was a blood-witch, the first in fact, and Bonnie was the only other one to ever exist. She could have spilt her own blood for ceremony, but she needed to be able to say the spell too, and that would be impossible with the amount of blood that needed to be sacraficed would prevent her from doing so. She knew that this would kill Bonnie, but to protect her children she would do anything. There would be no regrets, only a future for them all. "You will all take from her the blood that will make all of you as strong," she met Klaus's eyes with a grim smile, "and as invincible as gods..." she watched all four of their faces as the words sunk in. If she could not destroy her children herself, no one would.

"If you say so, mother." Finn said in his smooth, refined voice as he stood restlessly in his place in the circle. He knew that once they controlled her power, the Mikaelson family, the _orginal_ family, would become legends among more than just the vampires. Once he and his family became the most powerful creatures on earth all would bow down. He could have anything he wanted, including power. While he had no doubt that Nicklaus would try and control what he did and where he went, he would go out into the world alone and leave his brothers and sister behind.

"What of the Vampire—what's his name—Damon? Shouldn't we make sure he doesn't try to interfear?"

Damon loped through the forest, buzzing from the blood he had taken from the animal and able to traverse the terrain at almost the same speed as he would on flat, unbroken land. He had drained four animals before he felt his strength peak, and he renewed his vow never to drink from an animal again. He was going to massacre several of the townsfolk when he returned to Mystic Falls with Bonnie, and for the first time he pondered taking her with him. By now, she would be as much of a vampire as she was ever human, maybe more so. Admittedly, he hadn't forseen the need to take much interest in the hybrid's before, but he guessed that she had been atleast half-human before and now that human part was consumed by the vampie – making her half vampire, half witch.

There was a sound that was not from the trees nor the animals who lived in them and he stopped running at once; a human would not have been able to switch from high speed to stillness as he did. Instead searching behind him for the eyes he could feel, he stood as straight and ridged as he could. He wouldn't put it past the cowards to send one of their minions to intercept him if he should get this far, but nothing tried to jump him. He risked closing his eyes to concentrate harder on the voices that came clearer to him with each second. There were more of them than he had feared.

Bonnie felt the heat of the flame, even though the torch that had been lit was all the way across the clearing. When she had asked if they planned on leaving her, tied to the pole, Klaus had laughed. Her question seemed to make Esther thoughtful though, as if she were deciding the wisdom of her words, and this was almost worse. She would rather hear laughter than see the expression on the Esther's face, rather have not even asked the question. She had always thought of Esther as being the unltimate mother, willing to do anything for her children's sake, and had admired her in a way. It was this same passion that she could see in the witch's eyes now, but there was no admiration now. Now there was only a dawning terror as she realised she was not going to be saved from a painful death.

"Is everything ready?" Elijah asked solemnly, as if this were a sacred ritual and not just a cruel way to die. He seemed to be the only one showing any caution about the proceedings; even Klaus was silent now, as dedicated to seeing the ceremony through as his mother seemed to be. Rebekah and Kol were the only ones with bland, uninterested expressions, and yet they seemed the most animated. Elijah did not look her way, but Bonnie could feel his attention on her as tingles on her skin, as if he were probing her for any reaction.

"Everything is ready." Esther confirmed, and Bonnie could tell from her voice that she was reaching into the void that was always open to any witch wanting to enter it. Bonnie hated _the void_ since it was the only time when she felt as though she was losing control. Usually her magic did what _she_ wanted, but sometimes it would snatch control away from her and leave her open to it's control. She never remembered what happened from the time everything went black to when she could see again, but she doubted that the Original Witch had any such problems. "Stay back," Esther commanded when Kol started to take a step forwards out of the circle.

Damon jumped lightly from one tree branch to another, moving so subtly that even the thinest braches barely rustled. His mind and body had become that of a predator, a beast among beasts, something to feared by everything. In this state, he did not even consider being any more gentle on his enemies because his little girl was there too, he would rip apart anyone or anything that tried to stop him. Even innocent woodland animals would not be safe from his attack. In order to have any chance of saving Bonnie from what he knew was certain death he would have to switch off his humanity.

She screamed as the flame drew closer, but was silent when it kissed the logs at her feet. She felt a big fat tear roll down her face at thought of these being her last moments and being unable to say goodbye and that she loved him.

There was a disturbance in the trees and Klaus grimaced before turning and smiling pleasantly. He was going to kill whoever had spoilt this very special moment.

**TBC**


End file.
